Oakland Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch makes contact with back judge Greg Steed during the first half on Thursday. Lynch was ejected after the play.
Ben Margot — The Associated Press

Marshawn Lynch has been suspended one game without pay for Thursday night’s incident in which he made contact with a referee, the NFL announced Friday.

Lynch will miss the Raiders’ Week 8 game at Buffalo, the team Lynch began his NFL career with.

Lynch has already appealed the suspension, according to ESPN.

Late in the first half of the Raiders’ 31-30 win over the Chiefs on Thursday, a scrum ensued when Kansas City cornerback Marcus Peters delivered a late hit on Raiders quarterback Derek Carr. Lynch sprinted onto the field from the sideline and eventually shoved a referee trying to separate players.

“I was disappointed that he ran out because I knew that we had a 15-yard penalty and we were going to be in good shape,” Raiders’ coach Jack Del Rio said after the game. “I didn’t get a chance to have a conversation about it. I told him you can’t leave the bench like that. That was about it. Next thing I knew, he was being tossed. The ref told me that he had actually put his hands on him. So, I didn’t see that occur. Obviously, you can never put your hands on an official and he was DQ.”

He was subsequently ejected and watched the game from the stands before congratulating players in the locker room afterward.

Lynch violated the article of the NFL rulebook that “prohibits unnecessary physical contact with a game official.” In a letter to Lynch, NFL VP of Football Operations Jon Runyan wrote, “You made deliberate physical contact with one of our game officials as he was diffusing an active confrontation between players.”

“I was still trying to move and fight. Marcus came in and hit me. There’s nothing wrong with that,” Carr said. “I didn’t hear a whistle or anything like that or obviously we would have stopped and then if he hits me, that’s a little different. If it was close or anything like that … Maybe he was blowing the whistle. I’m just saying I didn’t hear it. I don’t have any problem with Marcus coming in and hitting me. He knows that and I told him.

“I said, ‘I’ve got no issue, man. Play ball.’ Obviously Marshawn came out and did his thing. Obviously, you never want a guy to get kicked out. That stinks, but just from knowing him, I know that he was out there just taking care of us.”

Some speculated whether Lynch was protecting Peters, a fellow Oakland native who is extremely tight with Lynch, or his own teammates. Raiders gave varying answers to the question following the game.

Peters told the Bay Area News Group, “Family do come first,” when asked about the incident.

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“I saw my quarterback on the ground and I saw someone hit him late. I don’t play that [expletive],” Raiders’ left tackle Donald Penn said. “My thing was to run over there and get on him. I didn’t know it was Peters at first. I ran over there and got him off of him because the refs weren’t doing their job of protecting my quarterback when he’s on the ground. I saw he got hit so I went over and got him and some other guys got into it.

“It was a big old commotion. I saw Marshawn come out there. That’s his cousin … Marshawn wasn’t doing anything. He was just trying to protect his cousin, get his cousin to the sideline. They’re real close, they’re more like brothers than cousins, they’re real close. He’s going to learn. Marshawn’s smart, he’s going to learn from that moving forward.”

Jalen Richard will likely start in Lynch’s place against the Bills. Richard ran nine times for 31 yards against Kansas City. On the season, he has 35 rushes for 158 yards and a touchdown. Lynch has rushed 72 times for 266 yards and two touchdowns.

DeAndre Washington will also see the field more in Lynch’s absence. The third-stringer ran nine times for 33 yards on Thursday, including a go-ahead four-yard touchdown run that put the Raiders up, 21-20.

Lynch will also assuredly receive a hefty fine for the penalty, which would be his second fine of the season. He was fined $12,000 for flipping the double bird to the camera during Oakland’s Week 1 game in Tennessee.